Central Arkansas Stays Unbeaten In Conference Play
Central Arkansas 3, Nicholls 1
THIBODAUX, La. - Central Arkansas defeated Nicholls in four sets on Saturday evening, en route to finishing atop of the Southland Conference East Division for the second consecutive year. The Sugar Bears (23-3, 12-0) beat the Colonels (10-15, 4-7) 25-13, 25-19, 24-26, 25-21 at Stopher Gym.
Central Arkansas dominated Nicholls offensively, outhitting them .242 to. 181 and recording a 62-39 kills advantage. UCA cruised to win the first two sets, but suffered a hiccup by falling to the Colonels 26-24 in set three. Tied at 19-19 in set four, the Sugar Bears ended the match on a 6-2 run.
Junior right side hitter Chloe Smith led UCA with 20 kills to go with 11 digs for her fourth double-double of the season. She also had three blocks. Senior outside hitter Amicha Williams added 11 kills and senior middle blocker Evaree Franklin had 10 kills and four blocks. Senior setter Robyn Smith had 50 assists, three aces and 12 digs and sophomore libero Cristin Curl came up with 23 digs.
The Colonels were led by Rachel Yezak with 11 kills and Michelle Waguespack with 24 digs.
UCA will end the season with four-match home stand, beginning with McNeese State on Thursday night at 7 p.m.
Sam Houston State 3, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 2
HUNTSVILLE, Texas - Anna Ferguson totaled 24 kills including one on match point to lead Sam Houston State to a five-set victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Saturday afternoon at Johnson Coliseum.
The Bearkats' 25-11, 23-25, 19-25, 25-13, 15-12, victory extends Sam Houston's winning streak to 11 matches, the longest since the Kats won 14 in a row in 1993.
Sam Houston (19-10, 11-1 Southland) stands in first place in the Southland Conference West Division.
Emma Ridley led A&M-Corpus Christi (7-19, 0-11 Southland) with 21 kills.
After leading wire to wire in the first set, the Bearkats got all they could handle from the Islanders as setter Courtney Wypiszynski came off the bench late in the first frame to post 37 assists and run the floor for TAMUCC.
In the final four sets, there were 19 ties. Sam Houston posted 76 winners with 55 kills, nine aces and 12 blocks. The Islanders had 65 winners with 51 kills, three aces and 11 blocks.
Carli Kolbe added 13 kills for Sam Houston. Libero Kaylee Hawkins had another standout defensive performance with 38 digs.
Sam Houston State closed out its home schedule with the victory. The Bearkats will play their final four Southland matches on the road.
Texas State 3, McNeese State 2
LAKE CHARLES, La. - Amber Calhoun and Jessica Weynand led Texas State to a 3-2 (25-15, 25-21, 21-25, 18-25, 15-9) win over McNeese State this afternoon at Memorial Gym in Lake Charles, La. The Bobcats wrap up weekend play 2-0 as they also beat Stephen F. Austin this week to improve to 14-12, 8-3 in Southland action. Texas State is riding a five-match win streak for its longest stint of the season.
Weynand netted 19 kills and eight digs, while Calhoun notched a career high 12 kills on .706 hitting.
The Bobcats went up 2-0 to start the match as they beat the Cowgirls 25-21 in both sets. Texas State had four players that recorded five kills within the first two sets as they went up on the Cowgirls.
The third and fourth set seemed to fall in favor of McNeese State as they managed to tie things up with Texas State to force a fifth set.
Calhoun was a perfect 3-for-3 on her attempts as she hit 1.000 in the set to help the Bobcats swing pass the Cowgirls to a victory
Texas State outplayed McNeese State in the final set as the Bobcats finished with an attack percentage of .299, holding the Cowgirls to .160. Texas State never fell below .200, as it recorded the highest set average of the night in the fifth in final set with .571 to McNeese State's .125.
Priscilla Massengale led McNeese State with 14 kills and 15 digs. Sarah Cartie added 44 assists and nine digs.
Texas State has five more matches left before the Southland Conference Tournament as they will hit the road on Tuesday, Nov. 3 to play UT Arlington, before returning back to San Marcos for its last two home matches of the season at Strahan Coliseum. They will host Lamar on Thursday, Nov. 5 at 6:30pm and Sam Houston State on Saturday, Nov. 7 at 4:00pm.
Lamar 3, UTSA 1
BEAUMONT, Texas -- Lauren Holdorff had 19 kills and hit .500 to lead Lamar past UTSA, 3-1, on Senior Day at McDonald Gym Saturday.
Fellow seniors Kaci Brewer and Adrianne Meengs ended their home careers in style as well. Brewer posted her second-consecutive double-double with 12 kills and 10 digs, while Meengs recorded her sixth 40-plus assist match with 43, to accompany 12 digs and eight kills.
Lamar (13-10, 8-4 Southland) won its second-straight contest and closed out its home slate with a 6-2 record after the 31-29, 25-17, 17-25, 25-19 win. UTSA (9-16, 4-7) suffered its third loss in a row.
"It's great to get wins at home any time and I thought our seniors played well tonight and ended their career on a high note," Lamar head coach Justin Gibert said.
"This UTSA team can be dangerous and we needed to push hard from start to finish. We let up a little and came out flat in the third and we can't do that against a team that is this talented. We did that at their place and that was in our minds."
The first set was a back-and-forth affair with 14 ties and six lead changes, including four changes in the final 21 total points before Lamar came away with the 31-29. Each team had its chances to close out the other as the Runners had two set points and the Lady Cards had four before the winner from Holdorff on the fifth.
UTSA won the first point in the second and never led again as Lamar compiled a 12-3 run after the initial point to distance itself in the set.
The Roadrunners rode a 9-3 stretch midway through the third to lead 19-12 and come away with an eight-point win.
With UTSA leading 9-8 in the fourth, LU went on a 4-0 run to take a 12-9 advantage. The lead ballooned to 22-14 before easing into a 25-19 clincher.
Whitney Walls had 15 kills to lead UTSA.
Lamar will hit the road for its final four regular-season matches, beginning this Thursday when they Lady Cards travel to San Marcos, Texas to face Texas State at 6:30 p.m.
Stephen F. Austin 3, UT Arlington 0
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The Ladyjacks rejected 11 Maverick shots and swung a .276 as a team in sweeping UT-Arlington for the ninth consecutive time on Saturday at Johnson Coliseum.
Ashley Bailey was just one block shy of tying her season and career best with nine blocks for the Ladyjacks (18-11, 7-4 Southland), and Kelsey Owens led all hitters with 12 kills, hitting .417 as she only had two misfires on 24 tries.
UT-Arlington (9-14, 5-6 Southland) has now been swept by the Ladyjacks in each of their last nine meetings dating back to 2004.
Emily Franklin had her best match as a Ladyjack, adding nine kills on 19 swings off the bench, while Arielle Daron continued her consistent swinging with nine kills as well. Madison Hanlan followed her 18-dig performance on Thursday with another 17 digs against the Mavs. Paloma Buckner also finished with 39 assists.
The Ladyjacks sided out at 78 percent in the first set and swung .294, holding UTA to just .077 hitting behind three blocks from Bailey and four kills from Owens. SFA never trailed in the second set either, landing 17 kills to just nine for UTA. Owens was joined in the second by Mary Caitlin Bottles and Franklin in that set as they accounted for a dozen of SFA's kills.
UTA was slightly more stingy in the final set, but the Ladyjacks followed Buckner's serve to a 6-0 spurt in the middle of the frame and eventually closed it out on a kill from Bailey.
SFA now flips the schedule for its second time through the SLC East, beginning Thursday at Northwestern State and then Saturday at Central Arkansas.
Southeastern Louisiana 3, Northwestern State 2
HAMMOND, La. - The Southeastern Louisiana University volleyball team ended the month of the October the same way they started it. With a five-set marathon victory over in-state rival Northwestern State.
Allison Jones posted a career-high 16 kills and Katie Collins dished out 54 assists as the Lady Lions withstood a Northwestern State comeback and captured a 23-25, 25-20, 25-15, 25-27, 15-4 Southland Conference victory Saturday night at the University Center.
Freshman Courtney Donald added 14 kills and Jessica Srajer 12 as Southeastern (7-15, 3-8 Southland) snapped an eight-match losing streak and won for the first time since a 25-19, 25-17, 24-26, 16-25, 15-10 win over Northwestern State (2-17, 1-11 Southland) on Oct. 1.
After Northwestern State took the opening set, Southeastern bounced back taking the next two sets before nearly closing the match out in the fourth. The Lady Lions took a 14-18 lead on a kill by Julie Elliott, but the Demons chipped away at the lead behind solid play at the net from former Woodlawn High product Laranda Spann.
Spann, who had 10 kills and 13 blocks in the match, recorded three blocks in Northwestern State's rally that was aided by four Southeastern attack errors.
But Southeastern took control in the deciding fifth set as Donald collected five kills in helping the Lady Lions post a .600 attack percentage. A kill by Lauren Mayer gave Southeastern a 3-2 lead and the Lady Lions extended their cushion to 8-2 on a kill by Donald.
Yelena Enwere led Northwestern State with 13 kills while Zanny Castillo tallied a match-high 23 digs. Megan Dockery posted a double-double for the Demons with 23 assists and 11 digs while Megan Manning added 11 digs.
Alex Greer led Southeastern with 22 digs with Mayer adding 16 and Margaret Pittman 12. The Lady Lions posted a .170 hitting percentage in the contest with Jones leading the team at .351 (16-3-37).
Southeastern continues its season-long five-match home stand on Tuesday when it faces Nicholls State in a 7 p.m. contest. Admission to all Southeastern home volleyball matches is free.